A descriptive and historical account of hydraulic and other machines for raising water, ancient and modern: with observations on various subjects connected with the mechanic arts: including the progressive development of the steam engine ... In five books, illustrated by nearly three hundred engravings

Front matter

V-

.

* u

Preface

Circumstances having led me, in early life, to take an interest in practical hydraulics, I became anxious to obtain an account of all the con trivances employed by different people to raise water — whether for domes¬ tic, agricultural, mining, manufacturing, or other purposes ; and great was the disappointment I felt on learning that no book containing the informa¬ tion I sought had ever been published. This was the case between thirty and forty years ago ; and, notwithstanding the numerous journals and other works devoted to the useful arts, it is in a great measure the case still. No one publication, so far as my knowledge extends, has ever been devoted to the great variety of devices which the human intellect has developed for raising liquids. That such a work is wanted by a large class of mechanics, if not by others, can hardly be questioned ; and it is somewhat surprising that it was never undertaken.

It appears from La Hire’s Preface to Mariotte’s Treatise on the Motion of Fluids, that the latter philosopher often expressed a determination to write “ on the different pumps and other engines which are in use, or which have been proposed,” but unfortunately he did not live to carry his design into effect. The celebrated work of Belidor, from its extent, and the variety of subjects embraced and illustrated, stands at the head of modern works on hydraulic devices ; but of the four large volumes, a small part only is devoted to machines for raising water, and many such are not noticed at all : besides, the cost of the work and the language in which it is written will always prevent it from becoming a popular one with American or English machinists.

Having in the course of several years collected memoranda and procured most of the works quoted in the following pages, I have attempted to pre¬ pare a popular volume on the subject — something like the one I formerly longed for — feeling persuaded that it will be as acceptable to mechanics under circumstances similar to those to which I have alluded as it would then have been to myself. Every individual device for raising water has, of course, not been described, for that would have been impossible ; but every class or species will be found noticed, with such examples of each as will enable the general reader to comprehend the principle and action of all. In addition to which, inventors of hydraulic machines can here see what has been accomplished, and thus avoid wasting their energies on things previously known.

IV

PREFACE.

In a work of this kind little that is new can be expected ; I have not, however, servilely copied any author, but have written the whole as if little had been written before. I have sought for information wherever I could find it; and with this view have perused more volumes than it would be prudent to name. A few gleanings which modern writers have passed over have been picked up — two or three ancient devices have been snatched from oblivion, as the atmospheric sprinkling pot and the philosophical bel¬ lows, and some erroneous opinions have been corrected ; that, for example, respecting the origin of the safety valve. There is little room for the charge of arrogance in claiming this much, since it is all I have to claim and it is nothing but what a little industry in any one else would have realized. Several devices of my own have also been introduced which must speak for themselves. On referring to old works that are expensive or of rare occurrence I have generally quoted the very words of the writers, under the impression that some of these works will not long be met with at all. For the convenience of perusal the work is broken into chapters, and as much miscellaneous matter has been introduced, an index is added. The general arrangement and division of the subject will be found at the close of the first chapter.

In tracing the progress of any one of the primitive arts, it is difficult to avoid reference to others. They are all so connected that none can be per¬ fectly isolated. I have therefore introduced such notices of inventions and inventors as seemed useful to be known : facts which appeared interesting to the writer as a mechanic, he supposed would not be wholly without interest in the opinion of his brethren. In this, I am aware, it is easy to to be mistaken ; for it is a common error to imagine that things which are interesting to ourselves must be equally so to others. As, however, all those devices that contribute to the conveniences of life will ever possess an intrinsic value, the hope is indulged that the following account of several important ones, although it may present little attraction to general readers, will at least be found useful to those for whom it is* more espe¬ cially designed. It certainly is not what I could wish, but it is the best I could produce. I am sensible that it has many imperfections, and there are doubtless many more which have not been perceived. That I have often been diverted from the subjects embraced in the title-page is true ; and as the whole was written at long intervals, even of years, a want of order and connection may be perceived in some parts, and obscurity felt in others. All that I can offer to diminish the severity of criticism, is freely to admit there is much room for it.

In noticing various hydraulic devices, I have endeavored to award honor to whomsoever it was due : to say nothing of the ancients, with whom most of them originated, it may here be observed that the Germans were the earliest cultivators of practical hydraulics in modern times. The Dutch (part of that people) contributed to extend a knowledge of their inven¬ tions. It was a Dutchman who constructed the famous machinery at Marli, and England was indebted to another for her first water- works at London Bridge. The simplest pump-box or piston known, the inverted cone of leather, is of German origin, and so is the tube-pump of Muschenbroek. Hose for fire-engines, both of leather and canvas, was invented by Dutch¬ men. They carried the chain-pump of China to their settlements in India, and also to Europe. Van Braam brought it to the U. States. A German invented the air-pump, and the first high pressure steam-engine figured in books was by another. As regards hydraulic machinery, the Dutch have been to the moderns, in some degree, what the Egyptians were to the ancients — their teachers. The physical geography of Holland and Egypt

PREFACE.

V necessarily led the inhabitants of both countries to cultivate to the utmost extent the art of raising water. Wind-mills for draining water off land first occur (in modern days) in Holland. It is indeed the constant employ ment of this element — wind — that preserves the Dutch from destruction by another ; for, as a nation, they are in much the same predicament they formerly put unruly felons in, viz : confining each in a close vault with a pump, and then admitting a stream of water that required his unceasing efforts to pump out, to prevent himself from drowning.

The French have contributed the neatest machine known ; the ram of Montgolfier — theirs is the double pump of La Hire, and the frictionless piston of Gosset — La Faye improved the old tympanum of Asia — Papin was one of the authors of the steam-engine, and Le Demour devised the centrifugal pump. Rotary pumps and the reintroduction of air-vessels and fire-engines rest between Germany and France. Drawn leaden pipes were projected by Dalesme. The English revived the plunger pump and stuffing-box of Moreland, and furnished the expanding metallic pistons of Cartwright and Barton — the steam-engines of Worcester and Savery, New¬ comen and Watt — the pneumatic apparatus of Brown, and motive engines of Cecil and others — Whitehurst was the first to apply the principle of the ram, and the quicksilver pump was invented by Hawkins — Hales invented the milling of sheet lead, and the first drawn pipes were made by Wilkinson. Switzerland contributed the spiral pump of Wirtz — Ame¬ rica has furnished the riveted hose of Sellers and Pennock, the motive machine of Morey, and high pressure engines of Evans ; and both have given numerous modifications of every hydraulic device. The Italians have preserved many ancient devices, and to them the discoveries of Gallileo and Torricelli respecting atmospheric pressure are due. Porta has given the first figure of a device for raising water by steam, and Venturi’s experiments have extended their claims.

Remarks have occasionally been introduced on the importance of the mechanic arts and the real dignity attached to their profession, notwith¬ standing the degraded state in which operatives have ever been held by those who have lived on their ingenuity and become enriched by their skill. But this state of things we believe is passing away, and the time is not distant when such men, instead of being deemed, as under the old regime, virtual serfs, will exert an influence in society commensurate with their contributions to its welfare. And where, it may be asked, is there a comfort, or convenience, or luxury of life, which they do not create or assist to furnish, from the bread that sustains the body to the volume that informs the mind 1

Few classes have a more honorable career before them than intelligent mechanics. Certainly none have better opportunities of associating their names with those of the best of their species. Science and the arts open the paths to true glory ; and greater triumphs remain to be achieved in both than the world has yet witnessed. Human toil has not been dispensed with, but it certainly will be superseded, in a great measure, if not alto¬ gether, by forces derived from inanimate nature. A great part of the globe is yet a desert, inhabited by beasts of prey, or by men more savage than they ; whereas the Creator designs the whole to be a garden and peopled with happy intelligences, as in the first Eden. It is much too common to seek ephemeral distinction on the troubled sea of politics or party ; but of the thousands who launch their barks upon it, how few ever reach the haven of their wishes ! The greater part are soon engulphed in oblivion, while not a few, exhausted by useless struggles, are bereft of their ener¬ gies and quickly sink in despair — but no fame is more certain or more

VI

PREFACE.

durable than that which arises from useful inventions. Whitney and Whittemore, Evans and Fulton, will be remembered as long as cotton gins, carding machines, steam-engines, and steam-boats are known on these continents, and when contemporary politicians are wholly forgotten — in fact most of these are so already. The name of Watt will be known while that of every warrior and monarch and statesman of his day has perished ; and so it ought to be, for with few exceptions, he contributed more to the happiness of his species than have such men from the beginning of time. No one is now interested in learning any thing respecting the sanguinary Bull of Burgundy and his wily antagonist, the eleventh Louis of France, whose contests kept for years the European world in an uproar ; and the latter, not content with murdering his species by wholesale, in his old age slew infants that he might acquire new vigor by bathing in their blood : but as long as time endures, the world will revere the names of their contemporaries — Gottenburg, Koster, Faust, and Schceffer and their asso¬ ciates in printing and type-founding.

Science and the arts are renovating the constitution of society. The destiny of nations cannot be much longer held by political gamblers, wealthy dolts, titled buffoons, and royal puppets ; these no longer sustained by factitious aids must descend to their own level. Theories of governments will not be opposed to nature and carried out in violation of her laws ; but practical science will be the ruling principle ; and practical philosophers will be, as God designed they should be, the master spirits of the world. The history and progress of the useful arts will soon become a subject of general study. Historians will hereafter trace in them the rise and fall of nations ; for power and preeminence will depend upon new discoveries in and applications of science. Battles will soon be fought by engineers instead of generals, and by mechanism in place of men. But battles, we trust, will hereafter be few ; for if ever men were called upon by that which is dear to them and their race — by that which is calculated to rouse the purest feelings and exterminate the worst ones, it is to denounce that spirit of military glory which encourages and induces offensive wars. Take away all the false glare and pomp of wars, and tyranny will expire — for it would have nothing to support it. Put war in its true light, and no well regulated mind would ever embrace it as a profession.

To poets and writers of romance, the annals of mechanism present un¬ explored sources of materials. They are mines of the richest ores — fields teeming with the choicest fruits and flowers. Here are to be found incidents as agreeable and exciting in their natures, and as important in their effects as anything that can be realized by the imagination alone ; such too, as present nothing to offend the finest taste, or conflict with the purest morals. When novelists have worn out the common ground ; (and they seem already to have done so,) when mere sentiment grows flat, and the exhibition of the passions becomes stale ; when politics, history and love are exhausted — works founded on the origin, progress, and maturity of the useful arts will both charm the imagination and improve the judgment of readers. Does an author wish to introduce characters who have left permanent impressions of their genius upon the world] Where can he find them in such variety as in the race of inventors ? Is he desirous of enrich¬ ing his pages with singular coincidences, curious facts, surprising results — to fascinate his readers, and cause them to anticipate the end of his pages with regret ] Let him detail the circumstances that led to the conception, and accompanied the improvement of those inventions and discoveries that have elevated civilized man above the savage.

Is such a writer desirous, for instance, to entertain the sex ] He could

PREFACE.

VH hardly do it more effectually than by writing a volume on the labors of primitive spinsters, ere the distaff was adopted, or the spindle (the original fly-wheel) was invented ; by detailing the circumstances that gave birth to those implements, with the trials, observations, customs and anecdotes connected with their introduction and their uses — imagining the congra¬ tulations that were poured upon the artist who wove the first web in a loom, and the praises bestowed upon the author of that machine and the shuttle — recalling the times and scenes when groups of laughing females were hastening to examine the first colored mantles ; and recording the bursts of admiration which dropped from them (in all the force of oriental hyperbole) upon witnessing the processes by which purple and scarlet and crimson and green, &c. were produced — recounting the methods by which the art of dyeing wrought a revolution in costume, and how it be¬ came one of the great sources of wealth to Babylon and Tyre — referring to the gratification which the invention of needles and pins, of thimbles and combs, conferred on ancient dames ; and noticing the influence of these in improving the dress and deportment of women — describing the trials of artists before they succeeded in perfecting these instruments, and so on, until every addition to domestic dwellings, to household furniture, and to dress be reviewed — until every thing which a modern lady possesses over an Indian’s squaw be brought forward and described, with all the known facts and circumstances associated with its history and application ; — and thus form a series of essays on the arts, in which every line would be poetry, and every incident new.

A new species of drama might here take its rise ; one possessing equal attractions and exhibiting equally interesting pictures of human life, as any thing which writers of comedy or tragedy have yet produced. Here are characters and customs of every variety, age, and nation — incidents and adventure in the greatest profusion — the extremes of misery and bliss, of poverty and wealth, of suffering virtue and unrequited toil, and their opposites. Here the humblest individuals have, by industry and ingenuity, risen from obscurity and astonished the world. Mechanics have become kings like the old potter of Sicily, (Agathocles,) Aurelius the blacksmith of Rome, and Leitz the tinker who founded the caliph dynasty of the Soffarites. Kings have left their thrones to become workmen in brass and silver, wood and iron ; as Demetrius at his lathe, iEropus making lamps and tables, Charles V. in his watchmaker’s shop ; and if some bizarre examples are wanted, there is still to be seen the mantua-making apart¬ ment of Ferdinand VII. with specimens of his work.

A play might be founded on the fairs held at Delos, (the Pittsburg of of the old Greeks,) where merchants (observes Pliny) assembled from all parts of the world to purchase hardware and bronze. An island whose artists were ennobled for the beauty and finish of their works in the metals, and who particularly excelled in brazen feet for chairs, tables, and bed¬ steads, and in statues and other large works in brass. Then there was the workmen of ASgina, who beat all others in fabricating branches and and sockets of candelabra; while those of Tarentum produced the best pedestals or shafts. In connection with which, there is the singular story of the Lady Gegania, who, after giving 50,000 sesterces for a bronze candle¬ stick, adopted its ill-favored and hump-backed maker for her companion and heir.

How rich in interest would a dramatic scene be if laid in an antediluvian smith’s shop ! (Forges have always been places of resort.) To notice the characters of the visitants, listen to their remarks, examine the instru¬ ments fabricated by the artist, his materials, fuel, bellows, and other tools 1

V1U

PREFACE.

There is not a more interesting scene in all the Iliad than the description of Vulcan at work. But if such a distance of time is too remote, there is the forge of Kawah, the blacksmith of Ispahan, he whose apron was for centuries the banner of the Persian empire. The forge of Aurelius also, where he made the sword by which he was while emperor slain.

A scene might open in the barber’s shop of Alexandria, in which the boy Ctesibius used to play, and where the first scintillations of his genius broke out ; while his subsequent speculations, his private essays and public experiments, some of which were probably exhibited before the reigning Ptolemies, might be brought into view — his pupil, Heron, and other philosophers and literati might also be included in the plot. Of the con¬ nection of barbers with important events there is no end — there was the tatling artist of Midas, the spruce hair-dresser of Julian the emperor, the inquisitive one that saved Caesar’s life by listening to the conversation of assassins — the history of the silver shaving vessel with which the benevo¬ lent father of Marc Anthony relieved the pecuniary distresses of a friend — there was the wicked Oliver Dain ; and the ancestor of Tunstall, the famous Bishop of Durham, was barber to William the Conqueror : hence the bishop’s coat of arms contained three combs.

Who would not go to see a representation of the impostures of the heathen priesthood 1 Men who in the darkest times applied some of the finest principles of science to the purposes of delusion ! With what emotions should we enter their secret recesses in the temples ! — places where their chemical processes were matured, their automaton figures and other mechanical apparatus conceived and fabricated, and where experi¬ ments were made before the miracles were consummated in public. But it is impossible to enumerate a tithe of the subjects and incidents for the drama that might be derived from the history of the arts : they are more numerous than the mechanical professions — more diversified than articles of traffic or implements of trades. The plots, too, might be rendered as complicated, and their denouement as agreeable or disagreeable as could be desired : and what is better than all, in such plays the moral, intel¬ lectual and inventive faculties of an audience would be excited and im¬ proved — science would pervade every piece, and her professors would be the principal performers.

THOS. EWBANK.

JVew-York, December, 1841.

Chapter 1

The subject of raising water interesting to philosophers and mechanics — Led to the invention of the steam engine — Connected with the present advanced state of the arts — Origin of the useful arts lost — Their history neglected by the ancients — First inventors the greatest benefactors — Memorials of them perished, while accounts of warriors and their acts pervade and pollute the pages of his¬ tory — A record of the origin and early progress of the arts more useful and interesting than all the works of historians extant — The history of a single tool (as that of a hammer) invaluable — In the general wreck of the arts of the ancients, most of their devices for raising water preserved —

Cause of this — Hydraulic machines of very remote origin — Few invented by the Greeks and Ro¬ mans — Arrangement and division of the subject .... .1

Chapter II

Water — Its importance in the economy of nature — Forms part of all substances — Food of all animals — Great physical changes effected by it — Earliest source of inanimate motive power — Its distribu tion over the earth not uniform — Sufferings of the orientals from want of water — A knowledge of this necessary to understand their writers — Political ingenuity of Mahomet — Water a prominent feature in the paradise of the Asiatics — Camels often slain by travelers, to obtain water from their stomachs — Cost of a draught of such water — Hydraulic machine referred to in Ecclesiastes — The useful arts originated in Asia — Primitive modes of procuring water — Using the hand as a cup — Traditions respecting Adam — Scythian tradition — Palladium — Observations on the primitive state of man, and the origin of the arts .........9

Chapter III

Origin of vessels for containing water — The calabash the first one — It has always been used — Found by Columbus in the cabins of Americans — Inhabitants of New Zealand, Java, Sumatra, and of the Pacific Islands employ it — Principal vessel of the Africans — Curious remark of Pliny respecting it — Common among the ancient Mexicans, Romans and Egyptians — Offered by the latter people on their altars — The model after which vessels of capacity were originally formed — Its figure still preserved in several — Ancient American vessels copied from it — Peruvian bottles — Gurgulets —

The form of the calabash prevailed in the vases and goblets of the ancients — Extract from Persius’ \

satires — Ancient vessels for heating water modeled after it — Pipkin — Saucepan — Anecdote of a Roman dictator — The common cast-iron cauldron of great antiquity: similar in shape to those used in Egypt in the time of Raineses — Often referred to in the Bible and in the Iliad — Grecian,

Roman, Celtic, Chinese and Peruvian cauldrons — Expertness of Chinese tinkers — Croesus and the Delphic oracle — Uniformity in the figure of cauldrons — Cause of this — Superiority of their form over straight-sided boilers — Brazen cauldrons highly prized — Water pots of the Hindoos — Women drawing water — Anecdote of Darius and a young female of Sardis — Dexterity of oriental women in balancing water pots — Origin of the canopus — Ingenuity and fraud of an Egyptian priest — Ecclesiastical deceptions in the middle ages - - - - - - - -14

Chapter IV

On wells — Water one of the first objects Of ancient husbandmen — Lot — Wells before the deluge- Digging them through rock subsequent to the use of metals — Art of digging them carried to great perfection by the Asiatics — Modern methods of making them in loose soils derived from the East —

Wells often the nuclei of cities — Private wells common of old — Public wells infested by banditti —

Wells numerous in Greece — Introduced there by Danaus — Facts connected with them in the mythologic ages — Persian ambassadors to Athens and Lacedemon thrown into wells — Phenician, Carthagenian and Roman wells extant — Csesar and Pompey’s knowledge of making wells enabled them to conquer — City of Pompeii discovered by digging a well — Wells in China, Persia, Palestine,

India and Turkey — Cisterns of Solomon — Sufferings of travelers from thirst — Affecting account from Leo Africanus — Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia — Dr. Ryers in Gombroon — Hindoos praying for water — Caravan of 2000 persons and 1800 camels perished in the African desert — Crusaders - 24

Subject of Wells continued — Wells worshiped — River Ganges — Sacred well at Benares — Oaths taken at wells — Tradition of the rabbins — Altars erected near them — Invoked— Ceremonies with regard t« water in Egypt, Greece, Peru, Mexico, Rome, and Judea — Temples erected over wells — The

B

X

Contents

fountain of Apollo — Well Zem Zem — Prophet Joel — Temple of Isis — Mahommedan mosques — Hindoo temples — Woden’s well — Wells in Chinese temples — Pliny — Celts — Gauls — Modern super¬ stitions with regard to water and wells — Hindoos — Algerines — Nineveh — Greeks — Tombs of saints near wells — Superstitions of the Persians — Anglo-Saxons — Hindoos — Scotch — English — St. Gene¬ vieve’s well — St. Winifred’s well — House and well ‘warming’ - - - - - 33

Chapter VI

Wells continued — Depth of ancient wells — In Hindostan — Well of Tyre — Carthagenian wells — Wells in Greece, Herculaneum and Pompeii — Wells without curbs — Ancient laws to prevent accidents from persons and animals falling into them — Sagacity and revenge of an elephant — Hylas — Archelaus of Macedon — Thracian soldier and a lady at Thebes — Wooden covers — Wells in Judea — Reasons for not placing curbs round wells — Scythians — Arabs — Aquilius — Abraham — Hezekiah — David — Mardonius — Moses and the people of Edom — Burckhardt in Petra — Woman of Bahurim — Persian tradition — Ali the fourth caliph — Covering wells with large stones — Mahommedan tradi¬ tion — Themistocles — Edicts of Greek emperors — Well at Heliopolis — Juvenal — Roman and Gre¬ cian curbs of marble — Capitals of ancient columns converted into curbs for wells - - 37

Chapter VII

Wells concluded — Description of Jacob’s well — Of Zemzem in Mecca — Of Joseph’s well at Cairo— Reflections on wells — Oldest monuments extant — Wells at Elim — Bethlehem — Cos — Scyros — Heli opolis — Persepolis — Jerusalem — Troy — Ephesus — Tadmor — Mizra — Sarcophagi employed as wa¬ tering troughs — Stone coffin of Richard III used as one — Ancient American wells — Indicate the existence in past times of a more refined people than the present red men — Their examination desirable — Might furnish (like the wells at Athens) important data of former ages - - - 44

Chapter VIII

Ancient methods of raising water from wells : Inclined planes — Stairs within wells : in Mesopotamia — Abyssinia — Hindostan — Persia — Judea — Greece — Thrace — England. Cord and bucket: used at Jacob’s well — By the patriarchs — Mahomet — In Palestine — India — Alexandria — Arabian vizier drawing water — Gaza — Herculaneum and Pompeii — Wells within the houses of the latter city — Aleppo — Tyre — Carthage — Cleanthes the ‘well drawer’ of Athens, and successor of Zeno— Demo¬ critus — Plautus — Asclepiades and Menedemus — Cistern pole — Roman cisterns and cement — An¬ cient modes of purifying water -- - - - - - .51

Chapter IX

The pulley its origin unknown — Used in the erection of ancient buildings and in ships — Ancient one found in Egypt— Probably first used to raise water — Not extensively used in ancient Grecian wells : cause of this — Used in Mecca and Japan — Led to the employment of animals to raise water — Simple mode of adapting them to this purpose in the east. Pulley and two buckets: used by the Anglo-Saxons, Normans, <fcc — Italian mode of raising water to upper floors — Desagulier's mode — Self acting or gaining and losing buckets — Marquis of Worcester — Heron of Alexandria — Robert Fludd — Lever bucket engine — Bucket of Bologna — Materials of ancient buckets - - - 58

Chapter X

The windlass: its origin unknown — Employed in raising water from wells, and ore from mines — Chinese windlass — Other inventions of that people, as table forks, winnowing machines, &c. &c. Fusee: its application to raise water from wells — Its inventor not known. Wheel and pinion — Anglo-Saxon crane — Drum attached to the windlass roller, and turned by a rope: used in Birmah, England, <Src. Tread wheels : used by’ the ancients — Moved by men and various animals — Jacks — Horizontal tread-wheels — Common wheel or capstan. Observations on the introduction of table forks into Europe ---------...68